Yesterday, France Football Unveiled the names of the 30 players in competition to win the Golden Ball 2025. Unsurprisingly, Ousmane Dembélé (27) is one of them. The Frenchman comes out of a season when he scored 35 goals and delivered 16 assists in 53 matches in all competitions. He notably won Ligue 1, the French Cup as well as the Champions League. Sacred best player in the French championship during the UNFP trophies, he was also a finalist of the Club World Cup with PSG. A rather successful year for the tricolor international, semi-finalist of the League of Nations with the Blues. All this makes him the favorite for the Ballon d'Or 2025. But this trophy will not certainly go into his hands.
He faces the prodigious Lamine Yamal, who sees FC Barcelona and Spain standing behind him to win this title. “Dembélé is great, but Lamine Yamal deserves the Ballon d'Or. We must not forget it ”said a Catalan leader to The team. The 18 -year -old prodigy was less decisive than Dembélé (18 goals, 25 assists) but he delighted on the Liga terrains like those of Europe, he who won the Liga, the King's Cup and the Spanish Super Cup with FC Barcelona. He was also a finalist of the League of Nations with La Roja. For many, he has the qualities and the fabric of a Ballon d'Or during a year when no player is truly standing out. Besides, the Spanish press continues its campaign for him. Sport writing : “Lamine Yamal is the footballer of the moment, the best of today and probably for the coming years, despite his majority less than a month ago.”
Lamine Yamal, the Golden Ball of Spain
Sport Add: “Just for this reason, because there is no player who gives off so much talent, expectations for the future and the ability to put a team of the enormous size of Barça behind, the next Ballon d'Or should already have an owner. But many circumstances agree in this vote of 180 journalists, who must assess who, in their opinion, was the best during the 2024-2025 season. Ousmane Dembélé is also very good and has made a spectacular campaign, winning almost everything with Paris Saint-Germain, but this bad final of the Club World Cup against a very superior Chelsea can penalize it, in addition to losing the particular duel with Lamine during the last League of Nations. “
The Spanish media continues: “The Blaugrana scored two goals for Spain during the spectacular 5-4 in Stuttgart and the Frenchman did not see the light of day. Of course, he has the big role in a historic champions league for PSG in his favor. Lamine scored fewer goals (18 against 35) and won fewer titles (3 against 4) than Dembélé, but the dimension of Barça footballer is on another level. The ex-Blaugrana cannot be compared to him either. What Lamine Yamal has achieved at his age was not done by anyone, not even Leo Messi. Lamine Yamal is an elected official, a footballer for whom it is worth paying a ticket, for whom the public gets up and is admired with his diabolical dribbles, his qualities and the fact that he is a magic left -hander. ”
The omnipresence of PSG can cost him dearly
For Sporthe has much more the aura and the talent of a Ballon d'Or, he who won the Liga. A championship superior to the L1 according to the Catalan publication. She specifies elsewhere: “All of this must be put in balance and with the consideration that journalists from around the world vote, also more distant corners where spectacular actions arrive, those that turn the universe. And this is where Lamine is incomparable. ” On the Italy side, it is estimated that the presence of many Parisians (9 in total, editor's note) can handicap Dembouz. There Gazzetta dello Sport explains that “The abundance of Parisian players could prove to be counterproductive precisely for Dembélé in the fight for the succession of Rodri.” For the publication with pink paper, the dispersion of the voices can prejudice it.
Even if PSG is campaigning for him, which would have sown Zizania internally, it could be injured. Especially since several teammates, including Vitinha and Hakimi, also made the collective shine thanks to their individuals. Where Lamine Yamal was the key man of Barça, with Raphinha. A feeling shared by The team. “The rise of the PSG striker throughout the season was great, a consequence of the enormous progress he suddenly made before the goal. His statistics stick up with the individual criteria, he is a spectacular and smiling player, without pan, and it is an asset. Above all, he is the Parisian who embodies the most, in the eyes of the world, the domination of his team. But nothing is done for the former Rennais, who risks a dispersion of votes inside her club where two or three of his partners will make voices. ” Nothing is therefore played for Ousmane Dembélé, who is waiting to know the final result of the votes on September 22.
